


Today

by imladrissun



Category: Justice League (2017), Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-02-04 04:40:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12763365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imladrissun/pseuds/imladrissun
Summary: Take every day one at a time.





	1. Chapter 1

Steve reappears in the winter, out of the past and into a cold world, and one of the first things they do is go ice skating on the frozen lake by Bruce's nearby headquarters. 

They kind of swayed back and forth as they skated -- on old skates, though -- and the air was icy. Steve didn't seem to mind. They discussed random things idly, and she asked him to sing her some songs from his youth. Most were Christmas songs, but it did fit the millieu. They did most certainly not talk about what had happened, which included one of Diana's enemies trying to go back in time to kill Steve. And they didn't talk about Barry going back to get him first, and how he'd proceeded to assume he was dead and in heaven. 

Well, it was a mistake anyone could make when teleported from certain death by choice, to being in front of her in a palace. Barry had tried to make introductions, depositing him in front of a slightly bleary, just woken up Diana at Bruce's mansion, but both of them had been rather incapable of listening to anyone but each other. She wasn't a hundred percent sure Steve didn't still think he was in the paradisal afterlife, but they were keeping things light. She didn't want to get into his religious beliefs.

After their first hours in one of the manor's guest rooms, he fell asleep, and she got busy. Coming with Steve to his world had been an adventure, and something she was still glad she did, but there had been annoyances. Things she could now smooth out for Steve as much as possible.

Thank god, Steve's that is, and the gods as well, that she had both an incredible amount of funds and a great relationship with Nordstroms and Neiman Marcus. And Barney's. She had missed her own culture, normal clothes and normal objects, when she had gone with Steve to England. She started overnighting order after order -- Steve would need clothes, and personal things. 

Although not a watch, she thought with pleasure. She scrolled past the latest season's designs for men's accessories. Then she hit ebay. She would have loved to have been able to be around familiar things, familiar surroundings. Everything from the early 1900s was examined; some things were bought. She got books, coats, shoes, briefcases, cologne from those years [now called vintage, and rare]. 

Okay, yes, technically Bruce could easily let Steve borrow lots of things, it was the obvious solution. 

It was also one she didn't have warm feelings towards. She wanted to be the one to give Steve everything, and anything, he needed. He had given her things that no one could replace, could beat. Her first dance, taking a hand in one's own, dancing slowly. Ice cream. She had put down the laptop for a moment, to resume watching Steve breathe. 

It was irrational, and she felt almost bemused to know it and yet feel the urge so powerfully. What if he stopped breathing when she turned away? It was better to just keep staring. Although actually he might like to have candy from his time, as she was not sure if you could get ice cream made to antique recipes. 

The few days Steve had been there, been here, she corrected herself, he had seen a few of her colleagues. All to mostly awkward results. Barry had been clearly nervous, talking more fast than usual. Everyone had been surprised by Steve's formality and manners of speech. She knew he was simply showing them respect, but they were not interpreting it correctly. 

It would be Christmas in a few days, and Steve had already told her he was going to get her an orange fruit-- even if he had to steal it. She had asked Alfred to help her with making their meals, just simple food they had eaten together back then. Steve actually wanted to eat cheap crackers and cheese, or even tomato soup. And grilled cheese. 

The team invariably wanted to talk to her whenever she wasn't with Steve; they were curious about him. Bruce wanted her to lasso him just as a safety measure, but she didn't need to. Steve had asked her to use it, though it was more so to help them talk together than to interrogate him. Not that she told Bruce, or anyone, that. 

Steve had had trouble talking about his past, his childhood. They did it laying long-ways on the bed, on their sides, facing each other. Just an inch apart. [Of course, him talking under the influence eventually resulted in him talking about what he was currently thinking, and eventually about her, and then about what he liked to do with her. And then she couldn't hold back, and they were lying together, in love. 

When he found he could not easily speak about even his early war experiences [or at all], he had gotten fed up with himself and threw his hands up, and asked her to use it. It almost seemed to relax him, to be able to speak freely. Without his own instincts stopping him at every turn. 

It was also potentially a byproduct of being taken jarringly out of a horrific, death-filled series of years into a peaceful, almost silent house. It was hard for him to relax, to feel calm, in the face of this other kind of nothing. "The better kind," Steve said, a wry touch to his voice. They were out ice skating again; this time, in the dead of night. Steve had trouble sleeping, not that Diana wasn't almost as bad. He couldn't fall asleep, feeling always on guard, and she had nightmares. 

"It's backwards," she said, gloved hand in his. He nodded. She could just see his expression, just barely, from the light that came from the mansion's outside lighting. Their reactions should technically be each other's, not that she cared very much. Anything could be surmounted together; this was a mere miniscule nuisance. 

Although she hoped Steve would improve, so that he could rest more. He still had circles under his eyes. He had not complained, as such. He seemed thrilled with every day, in his understated way. He had thankfully not asked her what she'd been doing all these years, or even much about where he was. 

She had mentioned a few things, but he'd been uninterested. To be honest, so had she. They were finally together again. She didn't care if he wanted to built tiny figurines of ships for the rest of his life, or grow flowers, or do nothing at all. 

After all, isn't that what she'd been doing? She had felt done with the world after the War. Seeing that monster on the plane television screen had stirred old feelings; this was something beyond the mortal world. Something for someone like her to deal with, not for humans. 

Steve had loved the boxes that arrived in the mail, going through all the books from the 1910s and '20s -- and criticizing her choices, which made for lively debate, and laughter. She felt as if she hadn't laughed in longer than forever. She had not showed him any modern technology, really, and he hadn't asked. He mostly stayed in his room. There was thankfully a private bath, which they enjoyed using together. 

If he didn't care for the soft smelling, violet flower scent she oiled the bath with, he didn't say. They lay there together, as she held him and he clasped her arms, and both fell asleep more than once. Figures, she thought, that they could only achieve true rest while together and in a potentially dangerous environment, [cf. the hazards of drowning].

That was their element: danger, and togetherness. Soon she knew she'd want to take Steve to Paris if he wanted to go; or maybe he'd want to stay in America. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered in the face of death. 

He had visibly reacted to the few differences in things from the past. Even her in pants. It was just an eye blink, but she could tell. She wanted him to be able to take it in slowly, in this safe, quiet place. Then they could be themselves again. She felt as if some small, essential piece of her had been replaced. Though that didn't stop her from the dreams, illogical as it was to have a miracle in front of you and still dream of old destruction. It made no sense. If that was the levy that had to be paid, she didn't care. She could have the dreams forever.


	2. Chapter 2

She finds herself slowly becoming more comfortable, and then feels ready, and willing, to have him meet her new team. They can't get their old one back, but they can find some new friends, perhaps. 

Bruce is concerned that Steve won't react well to realizing there is no way he can fight alongside them. Diana just shakes her head -- Steve has never not been fine with her being stronger, faster, "incredible but for your great enemy: revolving doors. And your one weakness, ice cream parlors." Steve had paid for her before, now she would pay for him. He had understood that they both contributed different things, and that was okay. 

He did not resent her powers, he had been awed by them. Had willingly taken the role of the person behind her, had followed her. They were equal. That didn't have to mean their physical strength was the same. 

Steve doesn't seem to want to leave the house, and to be honest, she's in no hurry either. This is the first down time he's had in years; it's the first emotional down time she's had in decades. 

Bruce is concerned about his immune system, since time travel is unnatural in the best case scenario, and Steve is just a normal man, but he only ends up getting a minor cold. While Diana is sure he would happily take the medicine of her people, on the island, he is wary of modern cures from his own world. They investigate options together. 

Fortunately, this is the only thing Barry has tried to change in the past, so there was no worry that Steve was who he was. Both he and Diana had agreed, though to go through basic medical observation with Bruce, just so that they could be sure Steve was fine. Because Zoom had fought her and it had ended badly for him before he got away, he'd tried to go after where she was vulnerable -- and the only place she was, was a certain pilot in the past. 

When Steve scores higher than normal on all the tests, Diana understands in a flash of recognition that he is the only moral to ever bathe in their waters. Healing water is more than pure, more than holy -- it is transformative. She has found, through the years, that the human world has no true equivalent. She has been to the sacred waters of many cultures, but found all of them dormant. They did not glow with life. 

That was a good sign; now Steve would be hardier, harder to take down. Of course, nonwithstanding the last time.... taking himself out was probably a quick way around this newfound resilience. Steve was like that, trying to do good, in his own way. He had always spoken as if the heroics were her's, and he still did now, but he too was unpredictably selfless. 

He liked how Bruce was so direct, no niceties, but she thought that was a holdover of living during wartime. To him, it had not ended in a real, symbolic way. He was just told it was over. It would take time to sink in, she thought. 

 

 

The first thing Steve wants to do that's a return to normal life is fly a plane. Of course, they have to hunt down an ancient one -- and make sure it's in working condition. Thankfully Steve knows planes in and out. Bruce helpfully has the contacts to get them into private buildings that house enormous collections of antique planes. 

It becomes their project, to work on the plane. She takes a leave of absence from her mortal job and considers what they should do now. The plane is a great way to keep their hands busy as she contemplates. She can tell Steve is thinking about it as well. 

She's already told him about her job, and her real job with the other heroes. Where does he fit in? They need no computer genius if they have Victor; no one rushing around if they have Barry. Alfred handles their issues like he's their boss or their support staff, or both. 

Clark often handles air support, as does she when it's called for. The only thing they really need is someone to point out their flaws as a team, though they all could start with a laundry list of items. Bruce would have two laundry lists, she's sure. 

He could handle coordinating the civilian evacuation plans and dealing with local government, though. They have so far been so focused on fight [and trying to win the fights] that there has been little in the way of mitigating damage, either human or structural.

Steve starts going out with her, to the current world. He manages to keep a lid on his surprise to all the changes. She tries to explain things, only to find herself explaining even more things. He never interrupts; she talks for hours. He learns this new history from her first, in that way, and then begins to read about it. 

They daudle in their little self-created world, until a disaster forces them out of it. She gives him back his watch. She'd shown it to him before but he'd been content to observe instead of intervene in this new world, in her new life.


End file.
